The Washington Posts reporters William Wan and Jacqueline Dupree wrote on Friday headline “America hits highest daily number of coronavirus cases since pandemic began. Nation is poised to enter its worst stretch yet of the pandemic, with hospitalizations rising in 38 states“.

The rising numbers put the nation on the precipice of what could be its worst stretch to date in the pandemic with some hospitals in the West and Midwest already overwhelmed and death counts beginning to rise.

The Washington Post

In the New York Times, reporters Campbell Robertson, Edgar Sandoval, Lucy Tompkins and Simon Romero write in another headline “more than 85,000 new cases of the virus were reported across the country on Friday, shattering an earlier single-day record and stirring new fears about the months ahead“.

The United States is in the midst of one of the most severe surges of the coronavirus to date, with more new cases reported across the country on Friday than on any other single day since the pandemic began.

The New York Times

“The current surge is considerably more widespread than the waves from last summer and spring. The unprecedented geographic spread of the current surge makes it more dangerous, with experts warning it could lead to dire shortages of medical staff and supplies. Already, hospitals are reporting shortfalls of basic drugs needed to treat covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus”, write the Post reporters.

It’s been rise after rise after rise, week after week. Nothing has been added to the mix that’s going to make things slow down.

Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (source: The New York Times)

• America hits highest daily number of coronavirus cases since pandemic began
• U.S. Sets Coronavirus Case Record Amid New Surge
• Daily Covid-19 cases will hit six digits soon, expert warns, as US reports a one-day high of more than 83,000 infections

The Boston University epidemiologist Eleanor J. Murray told to Post “One key way we got through previous waves was by moving health-care workers around. That’s just not possible when the virus is surging everywhere. Equally alarming is that no one knows how high this wave will grow before peaking. We are starting this wave much higher than either of the previous waves. And it will simply keep going up until people and officials decide to do something about it.”

It won’t be as simple as closing public spaces. What has happened in the last three to four weeks is that people have moved their social gatherings indoors.

Debra Birx (from the Washington Post)

A recent CIDRAP report from the University of Minnesota showed ‘shortages in 29 of the 40 basic but critical drugs often used for covid-19 patients’.

Highest 7-Day Average

According to the CNN, the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases reached 68,767 today (Sunday Oct 25), higher than the previous peak of 67,293 reported on July 22. “The two highest single days of new cases were Friday and Saturday, with more than 83,000 new cases added each day”.

We’re entering what’s going to be the steep slope of the curve, of the epidemic curve. If we don’t do that, if we miss this window, this is going to continue to accelerate and it’s going to be more difficult to get under control.

Scott Gottlieb, Former FDA Commissioner on “CBS Face the Nation” (from: CNN)